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The Archivist
The Archivist is a mysterious being at the center of an ARG in the official The Messenger Discord. He was lost wandering parallel universes until he was brought back to The Void. His moniker was "The Alchemist" before he became known as "The Archivist." Pre-Void November 20, 2018 The Version 1.0.4 update released on November 20, 2018. On that day, The Shopkeeper chatted in Soleil's Twitch stream of The Messenger. The Shopkeeper revealed the existence of an unknown character named "The Archivist." November 21, 2018 In the PC version of The Messenger, the dialogue files are easily accessed from a folder called "StreamingAssets." * Steam: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\The Messenger\TheMessenger_Data\StreamingAssets * GOG:C:\Program Files (x86)\GOG Galaxy\Games\The Messenger\TheMessenger_Data\StreamingAssets Before the Version 1.0.4 update, there were only 3 dialogue files. * Credits.tsv, which contains the credits. * Loc.tsv, which contains cutscene text, Quarble death text, menu text, and some credits-related text. * LocDialog.tsv, which contains the character dialogue and generic narration box text. The Version 1.0.4 update introduced 2 new dialogue files. * Loc_Plus.tsv, which contains various menu texts involving some of the newly-introduced features (button rebinding, New Game +, Prophet hints in the scroll, and the Jukebox). * LocDialog_Plus.tsv, which contains new generic narration box text, Shopkeeper text, and Quarble text. However, the "LocDialog_Plus.tsv" file has a secret message, hidden hundreds of empty lines below the normal game dialogue. This message does not ever appear within the game itself and is only found within the game files. When The Archivist's secret dialogue in the dialogue files was discovered by Soleil, a new text channel in the official The Messenger Discord appeared, called #the-void. This text channel acted mysteriously, popping in and out of existence and sometimes floating up and down the list of channels. Pictures could not be uploaded to this channel, unlike with the other text channels. When members posted a few comments into #the-void, #the-void would disable the ability to post further comments. #the-void would disappear and return at random times, with any previous messages completely erased. And eventually, no one could comment in #the-void, with one exception; Soleil was granted a role called "Loremaster," which allowed her to comment in #the-void. #the-void channel would frequently pop in and out of existence, and if commented in, would force-disable any further comments until its next reappearance. December 8, 2018 The Picnic Panic DLC trailer was released on December 8, 2018. The trailer showcases Ninja's adventures in the tropics. And at the 0:22 mark of the trailer, a splash text image titled "VOODOO MAGIC" appears in large stylized letters, corresponding to The Archivist's message, "...use the voodoo magic word, it was etched in stone somewhere in the tropics..." After the words "VOODOO MAGIC" appear in the trailer, Ninja jumps through a circular time rift, transforming the world from 8-bit to 16-bit. He runs forward, passing by a stone slab in the background. This stone slab has runes etched into it, using the in-game alphabet. When translated, the stone slab reads "TUWHERA." When #the-void reappeared, the word "TUWHERA" was posted into it. A new member named "TheArchivist" joined the Discord and posted comments into #the-void. After The Archivist returned to The Void, the "Loremaster" role was removed from Soleil and transferred to The Archivist. From then on, The Archivist used #the-void channel as a means to communicate with the community. The Void December 8, 2018 December 11, 2018 December 14, 2018 December 20, 2018 January 8, 2019 January 9, 2019 January 23, 2019: The Events Erased from History An overwhelming number of votes overtook the poll before proper discussions about the vote could take place. Some discussions took place about the preference of by some of the more active members, but the poll was already extremely lopsided towards and looked like there was no chance for the other poll options. Disappointment was expressed about the lack of proper discussion. This angered The Archivist, causing him to bombard Thierry Boulanger, the main director and writer of The Messenger, with messages. Thierry explained that The Archivist only wanted members with the "Ninja" role to participate in the vote. The vote in #the-void was reset, and the poll settings were altered so that only ninjas could vote. But, for an unclear reason, The Archivist was still angry. The upset Archivist hid #the-void from all regular members, making it only viewable to members with the "Ninja" role. He also deleted his original poll, replacing it with a new, unfavorable poll. During this stretch of time, the votes fluctuated many times, in an attempt to keep balance. When the balance was tipped, many members cooperated together, offering to remove their vote or to add their vote to the appropriate poll option. Members coordinated together to figure out the best way to keep the poll in balance while also getting as many people as possible to participate in the vote so that they could all share the vanity role, "Voidmender." As discussions took place in the #ninjas text channel, one member, Kammesennin, offered to give up his vote if it came down to the wire. Kammesennin received a private message from The Archivist. As time drew closer to the deadline, The Archivist began a countdown, and the voting became more frantic. At 5:45 PM, #the-void channel completely disappeared. Time passed with unease, as votes had changed during the last few moments, and it was unclear if someone had tipped the balance at the last second. But a few minutes later, members noticed that those who participated in the vote had a new vanity role, "Voidmender," which shared the same green color as The Archivist's "Loremaster" role. Those who participated but removed their vote in order to keep the vote in balance, did not receive the vanity role, "Voidmender." About half an hour later, #the-void came back. All messages posted in #the-void during January 23, 2019, were completely removed and replaced with the following message. Some time later that day, The Archivist was kind enough to award those who sacrificed their vote the "Voidmender" role anyways. From this day forward, #the-void would remain only visible to ninjas, and it was expected of ninjas to speak in public channels about #the-void discussions, in order to get other high-profile people to become interested and eventually join in. The next day on January 24, 2019, the reasoning for The Archivist's anger the previous day was described more clearly by Thierry in the #ninjas text channel. January 24, 2019 January 25, 2019 In the morning, VoteX and VoteO were briefly tied. The Archivist posted this message. Eventually, VoteO eked out a victory by 1 vote. The Archivist deleted his message and replaced it with the following message. February 4, 2019 February 5, 2019 February 14, 2019 February 14, 2019 The Archivist's Temporary Departure March 12, 2019 The Clockwork Concierge was successfully recruited to the official The Messenger Discord server. Clockwork Concierge serves as a bot and a moderator for the server. He chatted with members, and he explained that he was sent to the server by The Archivist. March 15, 2019 Due to The Archivist's parting words, "Please tell Concierge I said hi," members of the community desired to deliver this "hello" to the Clockwork Concierge. After the "hello" was delivered, the Clockwork Concierge dropped a hint that The Archivist told the Concierge to guard an evil object inside of the Clockwork Castle. March 22, 2019 The Clockwork Concierge received a message from The Archivist to deliver to Phil, the Clockwork Operator. Thierry intercepted the message in stead of Phil, and per the Clockwork Concierge's request, Thierry closed down #the-void channel, since it was too expensive to maintain while The Archivist was away on a dangerous quest. Gallery Message13.png Message29.png Message78.png Message79.png Message80.png Category:Lore